Yngwie Malmsteen opened up for AC/DC on their "Fly On The Wall" tour which hit Denver on October, 25th 1985. At 22 years old, Yngwie already had a world of experiences, including winning the previous year’s Guitar Player readers poll for best new talent. And he was in his 3rd band, having played with Alcatrazz and Steeler before Rising Force.
Backstage, I had a chance to talk to Yngwie about his favorite guitarists, and he was as outspoken then as he is today. He told me one of his major influences was Ritchie Blackmore. "When I started out playing I thought that nobody would be even close to him. Seriously, I don't know if you've listened to early Purple, but listen to Fireball or Machinehead. Compare that to Jimmy Page or Tony Iommi. They sounded like Neanderthals. Their musical intelligence was nothing in comparison. He (Blackmore) was like the rock 'n' roll Einstein of guitar.''
I told Yngwie I had a live Deep Purple album from 1981. "Oh, you mean Jn Concert. That was good, but it wasn't the real good stuff. I must very very much like to recommend to you, warmly, I mean sincerely, would like to recommend… you to listen to the early Purple stuff. They have this one album called In Rock and the heavy metal they have there is heavier than any heavy metal you'll hear today. It makes Motley Crue and all these posers sound like they're playing accordions.''